There is never going to be any excuse for the extremists. Our mistake was believing that there were enough "non-extremists" in the region willing to take on leadership roles, and exert a peaceful influence.

I still see only two options for us now. (1) is get out quickly, and watch the country disintegrate into hell on earth, or (2) follow the More Rubble, Less Trouble credo, which means that we would re-engage with overwhelming force, killing as many radicals as possible in mass quantities.